Path of Vengeance
by Lee Schreiber
Summary: When forced into a situation of life and death, a man vows vengeance, but how far will he go to see it through?
1. Gap Demon

**Gap Demon**

I had been out of work for two months, living off savings. I had cut contact from my friends months ago and could not bear the pity I would get if I crawled back to my family for help. I had been browsing the internet absent-mindedly like the day before and the day before that. If I had not been so caught up in the unproductive routine, maybe I would have noticed the gap that had appeared and been able to hide before she came out. Within that gap was a void containing piercing red eyes that could shake up even the most stoic of men. A blonde-haired woman holding a parasol emerged from the gap. Her eyes looked like that of a predator eying its prey. I instinctively tried to run but found myself petrified in terror. I was trembling with a feeling of dread tenfold that of death. "Get back!" I weakly shouted.

The weak exclamation elicited an amused smile upon her lips making me break out in a cold sweat. "Why would I do that? I wasted energy to come here and you want me to go away empty-handed?" She questioned. More than anything in the world_,_ I had thought to myself.

"What do you want?" I feared the answer to the question, but if there were anything I could give to get this foreboding presence to leave, I would do so in a heartbeat. Left in the wake of my question was an uncomfortable silence. She looked like she was thinking. I took the opportunity to take a closer inspection of her. I could not help but notice the flawlessness of her features: Pale unblemished skin, Silky-smooth hair, an hourglass figure. If her mere presence didn't bring a shiver down my spine I'd say she was beautiful, but her perfect appearance only reaffirmed my beliefs that she could not possibly be human, only something to fear.

"I was planning to make you my meal. I had an idea in the spur of the moment though." I felt my fear slightly alleviated at that. She was no longer planning to kill me or so I thought. "I think it would be more fun to see how long you can survive." She said with whimsy in her tone.

My panic was back with severe as before. This time, however, my body went into a sprint. I quickly exited the room and made a beeline for the front door. Making haste, I opened the door and continued the sprint outside. I lost awareness to the world around me, only the act of running bearing presence in my mind. I was pushing myself as hard as I could go, to keep running as though my life depended on it. I feared death at the hands of that gap-demon if I were to slow for even a second. I do not know how long I ran. I took in my surroundings when I finally stopped. I was in an alleyway, two dumpsters being the most noticeable breaks from the emptiness of this place. I breathed raggedly trying to catch my breath, but the rancid smells from the dumpsters made doing so unpleasant.

"Phew," I wiped the sweat from my brow using my forearm. "I think I got away from her." I nearly collapsed from the feeling of relief that swept over me.

"Got away from who?" an all too familiar voiced asked. I turned around fearing what I knew was there. The demon. She was staring at me impassively, her top-half outside a gap that had appeared when I was catching my breath. My legs gave out and I fell to the ground, too exhausted to run anymore. "You run pretty fast, but it's pointless to try to escape me." she said in a matter-of-fact way.

In hindsight, it had been rather foolish to think I could escape by simply running away. She had me cornered and scared. Slowly, I had gotten up. I felt my anger welling up towards that blonde-haired demon, her face expressing curiosity as she observed me as though I were an animal on display at a zoo. With intense hatred towards the one that would be my death driving me, I decided to fight back with everything I could muster. I charged at the gap-demon. My fist drawn back, ready to punch with every bit of energy I had left. Meeting my effort was pain. It felt like I hit a brick wall. I held my aching hand wishing for the pain to dull. She looked at me amused. I had failed, unable to even bruise this monster. She raised one hand up to my chest, index finger drawn back. Then she flicked me, and in that single flick she had sent me flying back as if a horse had kicked me. I was in too much pain to get back up**—**that flick bruised my ribs.

"I don't know if it was bravery, fear, or stupidity that drove you to strike me, but I admire your tenacity all the same. Hold on to that fire, it may keep you alive for a few minutes longer." She said. Her facial expression shifted to an unreadable one that I believed malicious. I will never forget it. I was only able to see it for a second, however, burned forever in my mind is her face. If it is the last thing I do, I will make her regret playing with my life as though it were a toy.


	2. Forest Massacre

**Forest Massacre**

I do not know how long I was inside that void of soul chilling eyes. Time has no meaning in there. An hour passes in a second, a second passed in an hour. An opening appeared and time flowed linearly once more. I fell about one man's height before landing on my back, pain from my injured ribs renewed. The sound of birds echoed through the forest clearing where I landed. I took the moment to give myself a once-over. Because of my confrontation with the gap-demon my shirt and jeans were slightly torn. My backside dirtied from landing on the ground. My short black hair disheveled and matted with sweat from my earlier exertion. I brought myself to my feet as quickly as I could muster and took in my surroundings. I was not alone.I tried to count the people but stopped after a dozen. All of us were brought here the same way, I surmised.

"You okay?" I heard someone say to my side. It was a middle-aged man of average build in a business-suit. His clothes faired better than mine but the glasses he wore had a bent frame and cracked lens.

"I'll live. Who are you?" I replied.

"My name's Yamamoto, yours?" he said.

"Souta Mori. Who are they?" I gestured to the others.

"I don't know. You're one of the few here who speaks Japanese." He points to a tall black man. "That's Dwayne, an American, he doesn't speak much Japanese." He points to an overweight teenager mumbling to himself. "That's Saitou, All I could learn about him was that he's a military otaku. He started mumbling to himself a little while ago."

I walked up to Saitou. Before I could introduce myself to him he freaked out. "Get the hell away from me!" he yelled. I never saw it coming. His fist clocked me in the jaw. My balance lost I found myself on the ground again.

"Ow," getting back to my feet I turned to Saitou. "What was that for?" I asked angrily.

"I said, get back!" he shouted again. Clearly, the he's lost it. I backed away from him and went to introduce myself to Dwayne.

"Hi, I'm Souta." I said in English. I brought my hand out to shake his.

"Dwayne." He said, ending the handshake. Before we could continue talking any further, I noticed a gap appear. Everyone in the clearing turned towards it. The expressions varied from person to person, but most were either fear and in my case fear with a tinge of anger. The blonde-haired demon of my ire showed herself, lazily postured halfway out of her gap. Before I even knew what came over me, I picked up a rock and threw it at her. A gap opened eating the rock, a second later, another gap opened spitting the rock back at me. I had barely managed to dodge it. That irritatingly amused expression on her face never ceased. She stared into my eyes, her gaze made me feel naked. Terror quickly replaced the tinge of anger I had. Then her eyes looked away from me, her eyes taking in the crowd she gathered here. I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

"You're probably all wondering why you're here," She said pausing to make sure she had everyone's attention. Satisfied, she continued "I was really hungry so I decided to stock up on outsiders to eat." A few of us took an instinctive step back at that statement.

"I've been rather bored lately so I decided to play with my food a bit." She closed her eyes in a happy expression, "Welcome to Yukari's first ever Gensokyo Survival Games!" she exclaimed. A few gaps opened up with confetti bursting out, Yukari clapping in the background. A festive contrast to the dread we all felt upon hearing the reason we were here.

A large gap appeared. Stepping out of it was a mix of vixen and human. She wore a dress similar to Yukari's with nine tails protruding from the back and a quaint hat.

"This is Ran Yakumo, my shikigami. She'll be in charge of gathering your corpses." Then a little girl floated out of the gap. Her arms posed out as though she was on a crucifix. She wore a black vest and skirt, white blouse, and Mary Janes. Red ribbon tied in her blond hair.

"And this is Rumia; she'll be the one trying to kill you. Rumia, kill as many as you can and I'll give you half of them later." Yukari said.

"Okay!" Rumia brightly replied.

"Now I'll explain the rules. The 50 of you will try to escape this forest. If you die, you lose. If you make it out of this forest, you're free to go. I must warn you though that Gensokyo is a dangerous place for humans, even if you escape this forest your chances for survival are slim to none." Yukari's statement despaired our spirits. Even if we win this sick game, our survival is not guaranteed.

Yukari disappeared back into her gap Ran stepped forward. "You have a few seconds before we begin. If you have any gods you wish to pray to, now is your chance." Then Ran went into the gap. The gap disappearing as soon as she was through.

A thick air of fear blanketed the forest clearing making it hard to breathe. A tension so sharp it could cut filled those few empty seconds. I tilted my head upwards. I felt the warm sunlight on my skin, heard Chirping birds in the distance, and saw the cloudless blue sky above. How serene.

Rumia sped towards the closest person to her, a lanky pale man. Her hand pieced through his chest, he was dead before he hit the ground. Then all hell broke loose. We all scattered, people going every direction trying to make it out of the clearing. I spotted Yamamoto and ran in the direction he was going. Agonizing screams of pain filled the air. Not all of them were killed quickly as the pale lanky man was. Some were missing limbs. One was holding his slashed stomach gasping in pain, bleeding out, screaming for someone to help him. It only drove me to run faster, to get away from this massacre. I tripped and rushed to get back up forgetting the pain in my chest. Before I could get back to a running pace, I felt something grab my arm. Looking down I saw it was the little girl.

'_No, I can't die yet' _I thought to myself. She opened her maw and bit down. I felt an unbearable pain as her teeth chewed through skin, muscle, and bone. I looked down at my left arm—a bit of my forearm was gone. Oddly, the severe pain had lessened, replaced by a strange warm stinging sensation where my mangled forearm ended. I saw that she was drawing her arm back to pierce my chest and I noticed the overweight-teen from earlier that hit me running by. In my desperation, I pulled him between Rumia and me. Her grasp on my arm was looser and I was able to slip out of it. Saitou took the fatal wound intended for me and I continued to run. The guilt at sacrificing a life weighed me down, but in the back of my mind, I justified it, telling myself he deserved it for hitting me. His face as he died there in that clearing, glaring at me, blaming me, will haunt my dreams until the day I die.

When most of us neared the tree line, Rumia floated into the air and did something none of us expected. An uncountable number of glowing red balls shot forth in every direction. The shots felled people left and right. I redoubled my effort and made it to the tree line. My heart skipped a beat as one of the red balls grazed me. I took one last look behind me before diving for cover behind a tree. The sound of danmaku hitting the trees and dying screams filled the air. Less than half of us made it to the tree line. How many more of us would die before this is over.


	3. Star-filled Sky

**Star-filled Sky  
**

Feeling safe in my choice of cover from the numerous blasts coming from the slaughtering demon in child's form, I looked at my arm. I did not know much about first aid, but I knew that I would bleed out and die if I did not do something. Using my good arm, I ripped a strip of cloth from my tattered shirt and—with great struggle—managed to tie it halfway down my forearm. I grabbed for the nearest stick I could find and slipped it into the loop of cloth tied around my arm. I tightened the cloth around my arm by twisting the stick until the bleeding stopped and fixed it in place. I had fashioned a crude tourniquet.

After securing my immediate survival, I noticed the firing had stopped. I looked to the field. The ghastly sight had caused me to gag and empty my stomach's contents—Hole-ridden corpses, various limbs, and craters lay strewn across the blood-drenched forest clearing. I could not see Rumia anywhere; she had left the clearing, hunting down those of us who made it past the tree line.

I noticed, not 15 meters to my left, a person sitting with his back against a tree trunk. I made my way over to him as fast as I could.

"Hey." I called out to him, eliciting no response. As I neared him, I noticed he looked pale. His body was deathly still—nonmoving. I gave him a little nudge. His body wilted and slumped to the ground. One of the shots from earlier hit him dead center in the back, burning deep. I checked him for a pulse, but his heart was still.

Before I left his corpse, I searched him for anything I could use. He had a flask of whiskey and a wallet. Opening his wallet, I found his ID. His name was Richard. He kept a picture of him with a woman and a child in his wallet. It gave me pause. A feeling of how real all of this was went through me. This was not some dream; all of us had lives, friends, and family—before Yukari dragged us here. She would pay for this—for my arm; for Richard, who she stole from wife and kid; and the many others who lay dead in the clearing, mercilessly slain.

I trekked through the woods for an hour. It was getting darker, only an hour or two of daylight remained. I took rest on a boulder and tried to figure out how I would find shelter for the night. A rustling bush interrupted my thoughts. I tensed up, fearing that some flesh-eating monster, like Rumia, would jump out.

From behind the bush, Yamamoto and a woman with long purple hair in a ponytail holding an object wrapped in cloth stepped out. Ease filled me when I saw them. Their eyes traveled to my half-eaten forearm. Yamamoto had a look of shock on his face. His mysterious companion had a steady face, outwardly unaffected by the sight.

"Yamamoto, I'm glad to see you made it out okay." I said.

"Yes, it seems I was lucky."

"You two know each other?" The mysterious woman said.

"No, not really, we only talked once." Yamamoto said, "Mori, you should come with us. There's safety in numbers."

I nodded and got to my feet. Wooziness from my wound caused me to stumble a bit. The woman had good reflexes and caught me before I fell.

"You're injured, will you be able to keep up?" She asked flatly.

"Meira, we'll help him even if he slows us down. It's the right thing to do." Yamamoto stated.

Meira let me go, "Fine," and began walking away. "but if he dies I'm not going to bury him just because 'it's the right thing to do.'" I wanted to say something back, but the words failed to exit my mouth. Words failing me, I stayed silent and followed Meira with Yamamoto.

We walked through the forest for the remaining hours of sunlight, taking short rests when my lightheadedness became too much. I wanted to stop for the night, but Meira wanted to keep going, believing that the area was too dangerous. The sunset passed and the darkness of night blanketed the forest. Hiking through the forest at night was creepy. The dark ate at my sanity. Shadows grew long, reaching for my ankles. Tree branches twisted like mangled limbs were reaching out to grab me. Lifeless leaves were carried in a breeze that whispered phantom words. It felt like the nightmarish eyes of monsters unknown had set their piercing gazes on me. I heard footsteps from behind grow closer with every step. I quickly turned around—shaking—with fright in my eyes, only to see nothing behind me, but the cold night's air.

"Mori, you alright?" Yamamoto asked with concern in his voice.

"Y-yeah, I'm just a little tired," Yamamoto looked skeptical. Meira looked slightly concerned, but did not voice it. "I'm fine, let's just keep moving."

"If you say so." He said.

"It looks like there is a small clearing up ahead, that's where we'll make camp." Meira stated.

The clearing must have only been 10 meters across at its widest breadth. There were no plants in the clearing, only the faint smell of scorched grass.

"This will do. Yamamoto, find some sticks and make a fire. I'll go and look for something to eat." Meira said.

"What about me?" I asked.

"You're injured. You'll hardly be of any help, so just rest." Her words angered me, but I knew I would not be able to convince her. She took my silence as an unspoken agreement and left the clearing. Yamamoto went to the edge of the clearing to find some sticks. I did not want to be seen as useless, so I went with Yamamoto to find some sticks.

"Mori, you should listen to Meira."

"I can help, I'm not weak."

"You lost part of your arm and have been faint for most of the walk. I respect your willingness to help, but if you push yourself too hard you'll die."

I reluctantly went back to the center of the clearing. Yamamoto finished building a fire and Meira came back with a freshly killed rabbit and some berries.

"How'd you kill the rabbit?" Yamamoto asked. Meira tapped the object wrapped in cloth.

"You know how to prepare it?" I asked. I took Meira's embarrassed blush as a no. "Hand it over and give me something to cut it with." I was happy; I had a chance to be useful. Meira removed the cloth from the object she was carrying. It was a katana. I took the sword and tried to prepare her kill, but it was too difficult for me—being lightheaded, shaking, and only having one arm. I decided to just instruct Meira through preparing it.

"Hey Meira, what did you do before all this happened?" I asked.

"I competed in Kendo tournaments professionally. Why?" She said.

"Just sating my curiosity. What about you, Yamamoto?"

"I was just your average salary man. What did you do, Mori?"

"You can call me Souta. I'm unemployed. I got fired from my teaching gig."

"What did you teach?" Meira asked.

"English, it's my native language."

"Really? You speak Japanese so well." Yamamoto said.

"I'm only a second-generation immigrant in America—my parents taught me their native language well."

"How'd you lose the job?" Meira asked.

"I was really underqualified. I was using a fake degree." I said with a bit of embarrassment.

"You shouldn't have been teaching in the first place." Yamamoto said. He seemed a bit miffed about it.

"Hey, don't be mad, the native speaker is just there to look good, when you teach it as a second language. Besides, with my past I would never be able to get accepted to a good university."

"I know how you feel." Meira said.

"You two…" Yamamoto said, shaking his head in faux-disappointment. Meira and I laughed at that. Yamamoto joined in.

"I'm not that stupid." I said mid-laugh.

We heard a branch crack in the trees; it instantly killed the casual atmosphere that we had built up. Yamamoto and I tensed up. Meira had her hand ready to draw her blade at a moment's notice. The fire had attracted unwanted attention. Shots like the ones from Rumia burst forth from the tree. Meira drew her katana and got in front of Yamamoto and me. I tried to run for cover, but as soon as I had begun, my vertigo overwhelmed me and I was on the ground. Yamamoto had already made it to cover in trees opposite to where the blasts were coming from and Meira was dodging the shots aimed at her. I saw a shot headed straight for me. I tried to get up and out of the way, but my limbs refused to listen. Just as I was about to be hit, Meira was in front of me. Her sword slashed the shot, destroying it.

"Those who attack the injured are cowards, show yourself!" Meira shouted angrily. A fairy burst out of the trees.

"I'm not a coward, take that back!" The fairy shouted indignantly with her cheeks puffed out. Meira said nothing in return as she charged at the fairy. The fairy fired shots, three at a time. Meira easily closed the distance as she weaved between the shots, slashing what she could not dodge. When she drew close, the fairy began to flee, but was cut in half by Meira's sword before she could even turn around. The fairy burst into a quickly fading glittering dust, leaving behind no body. Meira sheathed her sword and walked to me. Putting her arm under my armpit and around my shoulder, she helped me back to the fire. Yamamoto came out from behind the tree he was using as cover.

"Sorry Souta, if I saw you fall I would have helped you back up." He said as he walked back to the fire.

"Don't be, I don't blame you for trying to save your own skin." I said, waving off his apology. With the rabbit done cooking, we split the meat and the berries between the three of us and ate. I looked up at the sky. I had never seen so many stars in the sky before.

"Pretty, isn't it?" Meira said.

"Yeah." I said.

"I've never seen the sky without light from the city making most stars impossible to see." Yamamoto said.

Time passed and the fire eventually died. Meira and Yamamoto fell asleep. Sleep came to me with difficulty. The Cicadas were loud and every beat of my heart caused my wound to throb in pain. I took a swig from my flask to help ease the pain and eventually fell asleep from fatigue under the star-filled sky.

* * *

Authors Note: First off, I think I should explain that this takes place in 1995, since the year probably won't come up in the story using the Gregorian Calender. Secondly, I'm looking for a Beta reader if anyone is interested.


	4. A Few Miles More

**A Few Miles More**

I was unable to sleep for long. My throat was dry and my arm was in pain. I was getting weaker. Death peered over my shoulder, waiting for me to weaken enough for him to grasp my soul in his bony grip. I shook off my fatigue as best as I could; pushing the ever-present thoughts of death further back in my mind, I resolved to do something productive, believing it too rude to wake Meira and Yamamoto before the sun was even on the horizon.

Walking was tough. I could barely stand under my own strength, and every step felt like one more closer to my demise. It took an hour of struggle to find and sharpen a straight branch, slightly longer than I was tall, into a primitive spear. Although, even my hardest punch was unable to even make Yukari flinch, if Meira was able to cut down a fairy, then I should be just as able to do so with a pointy stick, I hoped.

When the sun was just beginning to rise, I went to wake the others. I walked to Meira and admired her sleeping form. She was leaned against a tree with her sheathed sword resting against her shoulder. When she was awake her face made her seem stronger than any other in the world, yet looking at her now with such a peaceful face made me angry; Angry that this young girl had to go through this ordeal. I felt the need to protect her, but looking at my stub of a left arm and how she saved me only hours ago. It was I who was being protected by her, an unfair twist of fate. I reached my arm out and gave her shoulder a light tap. She roused and opened her eyes.

Red.

Her eyes were a shade of red; red like the soul piercing eyes of Yukari's gaps; red like the inhuman eyes of the flesh-eating monster that took my hand. It caused me to take a step back. My hand subconsciously gripped the shaft of my primitive spear so tight my hand was white at the knuckles. The thought of driving my spear through her stomach, so the life would leave those unsettling eyes, crossed the back of my mind.

"Mori, are you alright?" she said.

Her voice brought me back to my senses. Meira was a good person, not a monster. She saved my life. I loosened my death grip on the spear and exhaled.

"Yeah," I said, "your eyes just gave me a fright."

"What's wrong with my eyes?" she asked.

"They're… red." Although I had somewhat relaxed, her eyes reminded me to much of my newest fears.

"First my hair, now my eyes." She muttered to herself.

"I thought you dyed your hair that color."

"No, it should be black. My hair's been purple since yesterday. I wonder if this place will change my skin color next." I let the exchange die at that and waked Yamamoto.

We continued to trek through forest, our throats dry from thirst, and our stomachs groaning from hunger. I was nearly too weak to walk, so I used my spear as a walking stick. We eventually came across a strange pond of bubbling water. We chose it as our first resting place of the day.

"Why is it bubbling?" I asked.

"Maybe the waters here are part of a… hot spring?" Yamamoto said.

"No," Meira said, bringing her hand just over the pond, "it gives off no heat. I doubt this is part of a hot spring."

"Do you think it's safe to drink?" I asked.

"I wouldn't risk it." She said.

Yamamoto, not caring, used his hands to cup the water and drink it.

"Ah, refreshing," he said, "it tastes fine, you two should try some."

"I'll pass." Meira said.

I was thirsty and could not resist the temptation of quenching my thirst. I too drank from the bubbling pond. As soon as the water hit my stomach, it felt wrong. It felt like someone had pressed my left forearm's end onto a red hot stovetop made of razor blades and drenched in caustic venom. I grabbed my arm, crying out from the intense pain. The pain was too much to bear; my vision went black as my body went limp. Yamamoto trying to catch me before I hit the ground was the last thing I saw before consciousness left me.

I woke up with red eyes staring at my face.

"You're finally up." She said.

"Do you feel okay?" Yamamoto asked.

I felt better than okay—much better in fact. My thirst, faintness, and fatigue were gone. I felt like I could run a marathon.

"Yeah, I feel like my all my pains have been lifted." I said.

"That would make sense," Meira said, "look at your left arm, the wound closed itself."

I looked at my arm. It had healed completely shut. I sighed. If only the waters could have gifted me with a new hand; its loss was saddening. I brushed the thought away and said, "So, I guess these waters have healing properties then."

"It would appear so. If only we had a way to take some with us." Meira said.

Subconsciously brushing my hand over the pocket with my flask, I said, "Yeah, if only." I felt a little bad that I didn't let them know I had this flask, but I couldn't bring myself to give up this comfort.

When the sun was at its highest point in the sky, we heard a very deep and fearsome oinking sound. We decided to check it out. We looked over the top of a bush and saw a lone wild boar, vigorously eating, about one-hundred feet away from us.

"What should we do?" Yamamoto asked.

"Let's get closer. If we kill it, we can eat till our stomachs are full." I said.

The three of us decided on our next course of action and began approaching it as quietly as possible. When we were around twenty feet away from the boar we stopped. I was surprised that we hadn't been noticed. It must've been too focused on devouring whatever small animal it killed to pay us any mind.

"If we get too close it'll either run away or attack us." Meira said.

"I'm going to throw my spear at it." I said

"Are you sure you can hit it?"

"Give me some credit. I was on my high school baseball team. I had a hell of a throwing arm."

"Had?"

"It's been a few years and I've been slacking off since then..." my voice trailed off. Yamamoto and Meira had doubtful and worried looks on their faces. So I put on my best confident smile and said, "Don't worry, I may be a little rusty, but I have no doubt I can hit it. I can already taste the meat!"

I slowed my breathing. My spear was ready to be thrown and kill the boar. I could hear every beat of my heart. If I missed we would risk getting attacked. I threw my spear. Time slowed down as the spear arced through the air, nearing its target. Unfortunately, the spear went too far right and missed the boar by a foot. The alarmed boar turned towards us and got ready to charge.

"Now that I think about it, throwing a ball is nothing like throwing a sharp stick."

"Idiot." they both said.

Something I realized after throwing the spear was that that wild boar was huge. The stick I sharpened was a little longer than I was tall. The boar standing next to it was nearly as tall. It was scary to think of what other creatures lived in this forest if this giant boar was among them.

The boar began its charge at us. It was fast for its size, speeding towards us like a car that floored it. Dodging the boar as it charged us seemed like the best plan. Meira seemed like she knew what she was doing, and I had confidence in my ability to dodge, but Yamamoto looked like a deer caught in headlights. The boar got close and I knew Yamamoto wouldn't be able to dodge, so in the heat of the moment, I tackled Yamamoto to the ground and hoped we wouldn't die. Meira stepped just out of the way with her sword drawn. The gods of fortune must have smiled upon us, when the boar charged over us Yamamoto and I didn't get trampled. The spot where we laid was in a safe zone between the boar's legs and the boar didn't think to tilt its head down to gore us with his tusks. Meira sliced the boar's front left leg as it passed. Her back never faced the boar for a second. She was already prepared for the boar's next charge, as Yamamoto and I were getting up from the ground.

I ran to retrieve my spear, hoping Yamamoto would be able to get out of the way if the boar charged at him. My worries for Yamamoto were unfounded though. My running attracted the boar's attention, and so, I was the target of his second charge. Meira wouldn't be able to stop him. It was a do-or-die race between me and the boar; if my legs were not fast enough to get to the spear before the boar caught up to me—I'd be meeting my maker covered in hoof-prints.

I did a slide for my spear like it was home plate. I grabbed the spear and quickly turned around—crouched and rooted to the ground—holding my spear slightly angled up hoping the boar would run itself through.

My hopes had been answered, but I underestimated the resilience of the boar. It ran itself into my spear, but after it had penetrated by a foot it would go no further, and I found myself uprooted and forcibly flung back with the force of a freight train. I was disarmed lying flat on my back with less than a second before this far too close for comfort beast stomped me dead, and there was no way I'd be able to get out of the way in time.

In a desperate gamble, I grabbed onto a tuft of hair on the charging boars face. The boar was having none of it though. He whipped his head up with great speed and sent me flying upwards like a rock from a sling towards Yamamoto.

From the air I had noticed Meira charging at the bull, but I did not focus much on that. The matter that concerned me most was that after hitting the apex of my flight, I was hurdling back towards the ground. It seemed that the world wanted me flattened; avoiding the boar only gave gravity the honors.

"Yamamoto, catch me!" I screamed.

Yamamoto did not so much as catch me as he got in the way of my trajectory and took the impact like a champ.

"Ouch," he groaned, "that hurt."

"Thanks for softening my landing, Yamamoto." I said relived.

"It wouldn't be right to just let you fall without making an effort to catch you."

"Sorry for troubling you like that." I said, getting off of Yamamoto and helping him to his feet. We turned to the boar and could only stand back and watch in awe, as Meira held her own against the boar. She made it look effortless. Dodging just out of the way, only when necessary, and cutting at every opportunity. Every cut she sliced into the boar slowly wore him down.

The boar broke away from Meira and charged at us. Yamamoto and I were able to sidestep the injured boar. As it passed, Yamamoto—in what was one of the craziest things I saw a man do—jumped onto its back, holding on with all of his might. The boar ran in circles banging into trees, running straight the thinner ones, moving in sporadic ways, jumping around, in an attempt to buck Yamamoto off. For a middle-aged salary man who looked like he never worked a day of his life outside an office building, he was doing a fine job of hanging on—he could probably give a bull rider a run for his money—but he wouldn't be able to hang on forever.

I looked to the ground and saw a sharp rock and knew how to help. I picked up the rock and waited for the boar to get near. When it did I said, "Yamamoto, catch this!" and threw the rock to him.

He surprisingly caught it without cutting his hand and stabbed away at the rampaging boar's head. Not making much progress, he made for one last stab, hitting it dead-on in the right eye. The half blind rampaging boar ran into a tree and fell to its side, taking Yamamoto down to the ground with him. I ran to the bull and saw my spear—snapped in half by the boar falling—lying on the ground. I picked it up and drove it into the boar's remaining eye, fully blinding it.

Yamamoto fled from the blind boar as it got back to its feet, and I quickly followed suit.

"We'll leave the rest to you!" Yamamoto shouted to Meira.

She cleared the distance between herself and the boar, ready to finish it off. The blind and weakened boar was making a mixture guttural and screeching noises while it thrashed about. You could feel the boar's malice in the air, but Meira, unaffected, swung her blade almost too fast for the eye to see. With an arterial spurt of blood from the boar's neck its head fell to the ground. Its rhino-sized body still stood, as though its death was a lie, for a few seconds before it too followed its head's example and fell to the ground.

Meira, spattered with a bit of blood, sheathed her sword.

Yamamoto and I walked over to her, each of us were looking at the dead boar; blood gushed from its beheaded body, painting the ground red. I pulled the snapped-spear from the boar's eye socket, drawing out the impaled eye with it.

"Eh, screw it. I'll make another one." I said, chucking the spear away. I liked the feeling of warmth on my hand from the boar's blood, but the sight of its gored eye clinging to the tip of the broken spear disgusted me.

We only took a hind leg from the boar; it would be more than enough to fill our bellies and then some. I got the meat ready to cook with Meira assisting me and Yamamoto made a fire. While the meat cooked I went off and searched for a new stick to make into a spear periodically taking sips from my flask of whiskey. I couldn't find a fallen branch good enough, so I returned to the fire.

"You find what you were looking for?" Yamamoto asked.

"No." I said disappointed.

While I waited for the meat to cook I recalled the previous day's events and realized something.

"Meira." I said.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't mean to be impolite, but this just occurred to me: I've been calling you Meira without you introducing yourself to me as such. Was that rude of me?"

"It's not rude. I prefer to be called by Meira."

"So I take it that _Meira_ is your family name then."

"No. It's neither my family name nor my given name."

"Then why are you called Meira?"

"It's the name I compete under in tournaments; I prefer it over my actual name, so I ask everyone to call me by it."

"Speaking of kendo tournaments; how did you get so good at fighting?"

"I just take kendo very seriously."

"To get that good you must have dedicated your existence to it, you fight like a battle-hardened samurai."

"Thank you, but I'm not as obsessed or as good as you give me credit for." I was skeptical of that.

When the meat finished cooking we said the standard _let's eat_ and did so heartily, making small talk.

"Well, I'm fond of classic literature, but piano is my favorite hobby. So, what kind of hobbies do you guys have?" Yamamoto asked.

"I like to write poetry." Meira said.

"Can you recite any of it?" I asked

"I'd rather not." she said embarrassed.

"Poetry and reading has never been my thing," I said, "recently, all I do is mess around on the internet."

"I thought only otaku owned computers." Meira said.

"They probably do. In all honesty, I only started trying to use it so people would think I'm smarter."

"Computers aren't that hard to use though," Yamamoto said, "The Company I work for has been putting more reliance into them lately, but all I know how to do is send e-mails."

"E-mails are pretty useful. Anyways, getting back on topic, my real hobby is painting, but I haven't been able to paint recently… since my budget is tight."

"You ever sell a painting before?" Yamamoto asked.

"A few, for friends and family."

"Maybe I should commission you then, I've always wanted a portrait of myself."

"Sure," I said happily, "I won't charge much either!"

"We should focus on escaping this forest, before planning such things." Meira said.

"Sure, sure, anyhow, I'm happy that even though we come from the walks of life, we're all kindred spirits in our love of fine arts."

Our conversation continued on the line of discussing various arts until we finished eating. Rested and full, we continued our march to get out of the forest in higher spirits, listening to Yamamoto describe some of his favorite books, and occasionally, trying to get Meira to recite one of her poems. We had many miles behind us and what felt like only a few more ahead. With the exit feeling so close, I was sure we could get out of this forest no worse for wear. However, an ominous feeling had taken root in the pit of my stomach, though things we're looking up, I could almost swear death was watching us with his scythe at our necks, or maybe it was Yukari leering at us, hidden from view. Whatever it was, it made me worry; not just for myself, but for Yamamoto and Meira.


	5. Bittersweet

**Bittersweet**

I shook off the foreboding feeling as best I could and continued walking. The sky had become cloudy in the hours that followed. We came across a clearing and headed towards, thinking of taking a break. When we got there, we saw that in the center of the clearing was a single tree where a small hand hung from a branch. The hand was red as blood and its nails black with rot. The hand swung gently in a breeze. It made us all feel uneasy.

"What is this…" I said in shock, "Did Yukari send kids into this forest as well?"

"This is messed up." Yamamoto said.

"No, I don't think Yukari did this." Meira said.

"How can you tell?" I asked.

"I think this is an Akateko."

"An Aka-what?"

"An Akateko, it's a Youkai. I always just thought it was an urban legend we told to scare elementary school kids."

"What does it do?"

Yamamoto piped in with, "I don't care what it does. Let's just get out of here. That thing gives me the heebie-jeebies."

"Agreed." Meira said.

We quickly went around the tree and got out of there. The more time we spent near that tree, the more anxious we felt.

When we were far enough away from Akateko, Yamamoto started talking.

"So, an urban legend? I think I heard something about it before. Are you from Aomori Prefecture?"

"Yes, are you?"

"No, my wife is though."

"Speaking of Aomori Prefecture, you guys know about—"

"Ugh…" a pained voice in the distance sounded.

"What was that?" I said.

"Let's check it out." Yamamoto said. The three of us quickly went to where the voice was coming from. When we did, we saw a bald old man whose body was cut up. Splinters littered the area. In an instant we were at his side.

"What did this to you?" Meira asked with alarm in her voice.

He looked up at us, pain visible on his face, and grabbed Meira by the shirt. Then in a raspy voice said, "Wicker... man—" before his strength to continue his grasp wilted and his arm slumped to the ground. We tried to stop the bleeding but it was a lost cause. Grunting in agony, he passed on.

I thought that seeing someone die would be easy after I had sacrificed Satou's life to save my own, Searched Richard's corpse and stole a flask from it, Witnessed the blood soaked clearing, but I was wrong.

This must have been the first death Yamamoto had seen since this started. We all saw Rumia's first kill, but this death was up close. You could practically see his life fizzle away like the embers of a dying fire. Shock and queasiness were transparently adorned across Yamamoto's face. Meira's face remained impassive, stoically taking in his death. It made me wonder just what type of life she lived before this to be able to fight so well and brush off seeing someone die in front of her. There had to be more to it than what she's told us so far. I wanted to question her on it, but this was hardly the time or place to do so.

I brushed my hand over the pocket that contained the flask and felt guilt. A flurry of questions ran through my mind. If I gave up my liquor to take the healing water could we have saved him? If we were quicker and more experienced would he have bled to death? Will any of us escape the forest or is it our fate to die here? Is Yukari to blame for all of this? However one question was more prominent than any of the others, and so I voiced it, "What is wicker man?"

"Maybe it's a last name, like Wickerman, and that's the name of the guy that killed him." Yamamoto suggested.

"I've never heard of any before." I said

"Look; it seems that whatever it was that caused this left a trail." Meira said, pointing in a direction that was marked by a patchy trail of blood, trampled foliage, and broken twigs. "Let's find out just what this wicker man is."

Whatever it was that the old man spoke of, it made no effort to be stealthy, brazenly leaving an easily followed path. Rain fell from the cloudy sky and though we did not fear the rain washing away the trail, we still picked up our pace. A stomping was heard and we knew we were close.

The stomping got louder as we got closer. Then we saw it; the wicker man. Every step it took through the muddy forest floor came with the clacking and creaking of wood on wood. I can see why that man called this thing a wicker man, but this thing was made of much sturdier things than just woven twigs.  
The wicker man was a ten foot tall abomination made of closely intertwined branches and vines given life in the form of a cruel mockery of the human figure.

Eyes like fire gazed at us. Then it shrieked with whatever ungodly inner-workings it had. Its ten foot body rushed towards us. Its claw like fingers elongated, thirsting to be drenched in blood like unsheathed swords.

Meira instinctively intercepted it, holding it at bay. I took a step forward to help out. "Mori, Stay back! You'll only get yourself killed." She exclaimed, redoubling her effort of fighting the wicker man and preventing it from attacking Yamamoto and me.

Her sword cut through its body like twigs. Each cut digging deep into the body, but it was all for naught. The individual fibers of its body grew lives of their own, and wove the cuts back together. Meira's sword might as well have been incorporeal. Meira took to cleaving off entire limbs, but they too grew back. It was attacking with abandon, unworried of the superficial wounds Meira's sword inflicted—or it was simply a beast that knew only of attack. It was wearing her down. I could see it, she could too. She went more aggressive hoping to find a weak point, but it took advantage of this and managed to thrust its arm past her guard. She swiftly rolled away, but she didn't get away unscathed. Her shoulder was cut. Meira raised her guard, anticipating the next attack.

The wicker man shrieked. Its featureless face split open in a symphony of sickening cracks. The cracks didn't stop and its head became more jagged, splintered, and warped. The shrieking got louder; my eardrums felt like they were going to burst. Meira shouted something before getting behind a tree, but I couldn't hear her over the shrieking. I got the gist of what she was trying to tell us though as the wicker man's head exploded like a grenade, sending large wooden splinters in every direction. I was too far from cover—I'd never make it in time. The splinters whistled through the air, thudding as they got embedded in trees and glanced off rocks.

Yamamoto was in front of me, glaring defiantly at the headless wicker man, with his arms splayed out. Meira looked at Yamamoto with shock. I thought we had defied the odds and made it out unscathed, but that was only a delusion. Yamamoto's legs gave out and he fell backwards into my arms. Meira cursed and reengaged the wicker man.

I dragged him behind the nearest tree and set him up against it. His body was covered in small cuts, and a spike of wood went straight through his gut. I zoned out the world around me.

"Looks like I'm a goner." He said, looking at the chunk of wood protruding from his stomach. "Well, that's fine too."

"What do you mean 'that's fine too'?!" I shouted.

"It was the right thing to do. If the price I pay for saving a life is my own… then that's fair."

"Sorry." This was my fault; Yamamoto would have been fine if he never let me join with him and Meira because it was the right thing to do.

"There's nothing to be sorry for, this was my choice." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. "Want one?"

"No, I don't smoke anymore."

"I've been trying to quit for years now, my wife always complains about the smell." He said trying to light his cigarette. He fumbled with it a bit before giving up. "Damn lighter, knew I should have gotten a new one. Now I can't even have a last smoke like in the movies."

"You can have a drink if that's any consolation." I pulled out my flask and handed it to him. He took a swig and handed it back, I took a swig and placed it on the ground.

"Thanks."

"This wouldn't have happened if you didn't protect me."

"Don't blame yourself for this. I already told you, this was my choice."

"I'm going to save you in return then. So just hang on. Meira will kill that monster, and then we'll get you out of this forest and find a hospital and they'll fix you up, good as new."

"I'm sorry, Souta, but I don't think I can hold on for much longer. It's getting hard to keep my eyes open. I can barely feel my body."

"Don't say things like that, Yamamoto. How am I going to save you if you just give up and die?" Yamamoto said nothing in return. I could only stare as his breathing got shallower and shallower and then stopped. I shook him.

"Yamamoto, come on! You can't just die. How am I going to save you? How am I going to remember all those books you told me about? I was going to paint you portrait, dammit! You have a wife waiting for you, don't you? So don't die! I'm begging you. please. Don't die, Yamamoto…" It was already too late. He died, leaned up against a tree, wearing a suit stained with his own blood—another victim of Yukari's game.

The rain felt like it was pouring harder. The world itself must have wept like me. I looked towards Meira with blurry vision. She persisted in her fight against the wicker man, somehow still alive.

The wicker man swiped the blade from Meira's grip and then roots came from the ground and pinned her down. The wicker man walked steadily towards and reached its hand back ready to deliver the finishing blow and take another life.

"No more." I pulled the spike from Yamamoto's gut and ran at the bastard. I drop kicked it. A hole shattered in its torso revealing its grotesque innards. It had but one organ—a sickish green, slowly beating heart. It may be able to heal its wooden exterior, but I doubted it could do the same with its heart.

I had to be quick; the hole in its chest was closing. I trusted the bloody wooden spike at its heart, but it was no use. The spike grew a life of its own and warped in a way that it bended around the heart. If I couldn't kill it with pieces of its own body, I'd have to do something else.

Before I could think up another plan the wicker man picked me up by the neck, choking me. I struggled to loosen its grip on my neck. My legs, while aimlessly kicking around, felt the hilt of Meira's sword sticking out of the ground. I gripped it between my feet and brought it up to my hand. Firmly gripping Meira's sword, I cut its arm off freeing me of its chokehold.

"This… is for… Yamamoto." I said between ragged breaths as I stabbed it through its closed chest, guessing at where its heart was. It let out a shriek and started flailing its arms around. "Die… already!" I twisted the sword and pulled it out. The wicker man fell to the ground and its entire form split open as its shrieking got louder.

"That's not good!" It was going to explode again. My fear tempted me to run for cover, but Meira was still pinned to the ground by those roots. I could shield her like Yamamoto did for me, or I could run for cover and save myself. Either way someone would die. I felt in the back of my mind that something was telling me to kill it. I obliged.

I stomped its chest open and grabbed the cut heart that was still beating. I yanked as hard as I could, but its veins held it in place. Ripping its heart out wouldn't work. The shrieking was getting to deafening levels. I had but moments before it would send me and Meira to a closed casket funeral. Since I couldn't rip it out, I opted to squash it.

Thump, it beat once and I began to put pressure into my grip.

Thump, it beat twice and I squeezed as hard as I could.

Squish, its heart thoroughly crushed in my hand left it coated in a syrupy fluid that barely passed for blood. The shrieking stopped and its eyes faded, leaving two empty pits in its cracked head.

"Crisis averted." I said, letting the tension of pending death leave me. I cut Meira free and gave her back her sword. I walked over to Yamamoto and just looked at him. Meira came over as well to pay her last respects. She saw the flask and picked it up.

"What's this?"

"My flask." For a few seconds there was silence. Then Meira hit me. Her face was red with anger.

"Your flask? Why didn't you tell us you had this? If you told us you had this when we were at that bubbling water, HE wouldn't be DEAD! Because you wanted booze; HE IS DEAD!" She shoved the flask to my chest. "I hope it was worth it." She angrily walked away.

"This is how you treat me right after I saved you? Well fuck you then!" I went to take a drink from the flask, but before I could, a wave of anger went through me at the mere sight of the flask and I threw it as far as I could. "And fuck you too! It's your fault that I feel like this." I shouted at the distant flask.

I should have followed—try to reconcile for what I had said and done—but the guilt I felt was so heavy I couldn't even stand. Yamamoto said not to blame myself, but how could I not? Meira's words cut me deep.

"Sorry…" I weakly apologized—not knowing if it was to Meira, Yamamoto, or the gods. I stared at Yamamoto with my tear-filled eyes for a long while, thinking. I collected myself and began carrying him. It just felt like _it was the right thing to do_.

"Don't worry, Yamamoto. I'll get you out of here. Then we'll get back to civilization and I'll get you a proper burial. I owe you at least that much." I walked in the direction that felt like the exit.

My intuition was right and after a half-hour of walking I finally saw an end to the forest. I ran to towards it and stopped once I broke past the tree line to take in the landscape. The land was hilly and the grass grew wild, a large mountain dominated the horizon, and the trees were sparse—that was a godsend after the last two days. In the distance, I saw paddy fields; civilization was close—I could get there before sundown. The rain began to clear up and a sliver of sunlight shined through the clouds. Things were looking up.

"Yamamoto, we made it. I wish you could have seen this." I said in an ecstatic tone that quickly succumbed to sorrow. The moment was bittersweet. Unfortunately, the moment lost every bit of happiness when in front of me a gap opened up and Yukari's corpse collector stepped out.

* * *

Author's note: Yamamoto wasn't originally going to die, but him surviving the forest didn't aid the plot as much as him dying did, so he was killed off.

Now to answer Getter B. Rabbit: This story isn't inspired by any manga or anime. I don't watch anime or read manga. The inspiration comes from a novel I read in fall, although the similarities end at the premise. There will be passive youkai.


	6. On a Razor's Edge at the Forest's Edge

**On a Razor's Edge at the Forest's Edge**

Ran looked at me with a bored expression on her face and said, "Hand over the body," while pointing at me.

"I'm afraid I can't do that," I replied. My grip on Yamamoto tightened with my resolve not to give in to her demand.

"My master has given me a task. I won't fail her. So, just hand over the body, and I'll be on my way." I guess even a fox can play kasha when given a cause. She took a step towards me. I put Yamamoto down and stood between her and him, mentally preparing myself to back up my determination with tooth and nail if I had to.

"Not going to happen, I have my own reasons for why I can't back down." I was trembling and on the verge of an anxiety attack, but I couldn't back down. I couldn't just stand by and let Yamamoto become youkai chow, or whatever else Yukari was gathering corpses for.

"Do you seriously intend to fight me?" she said in an almost condescending manner, "I should warn you that I am the shikigami of a powerful master, my power far exceeds that of any of the youkai you fought in that forest." The way she said that, it was obvious that she wasn't boasting herself—only stating the unabridged no-nonsense truth. I felt my resolve cracking in the face of such a threatening creature, but looking back to the lifeless Yamamoto, I had no choice.

"Even so, I'd rather die than let you have your way."

"Oh? I wasn't aware there was a buy one, get one free sale today. I guess I'll be taking you as well."

It was obvious that she had just threatened to take my life. She sounded non-committed to the threat though. If I backed down, she'd withdraw her threat. However, I reasoned, I was already an inch in, so, I might as well go in for a mile, and said in the cockiest voice I could, "No thanks, I prefer to do the taking, but even if I didn't, I don't go for old chicks, and considering the number of tails you're sporting... I'd say you're absolutely ancient; disgusting."

Her eye twitched. She knew I misconstrued her words to insult her age. She had pride in her age; any creature that displays there age for all to see by marking each century with a new tail would. For someone to look at a kistune's age and not revere it with respect was no doubt a great insult to a prideful fox like her. She probably believed it was her duty to kill me after my purposeful display of disrespect towards her.

"Enough talk, time to die," she said in an aggravated tone.

She leapt towards me. She was fast; faster than I expected. It would take but a moment for her to get me. Her hand was going to swipe at me. Her nails were deceitful, they looked as normal as any woman's nails, but they were probably as sharp as an obsidian scalpel, and even if they weren't, someone like her could make a butter knife draw blood.

She was too fast, I wouldn't be able to dodge. Simply stopping her arm with brute force wasn't an option—the difference in strength between us was like that between a kitchen faucet and Niagara Falls.

I was mentally berating myself. Where was that courage to back up my words now? It became painfully apparent that my bravado—if you could even call it that—was nothing more than a lie. My resolve shattered.

I resigned myself to this fate and closed my eyes, bracing myself for the inevitable hit that would rob me of my life, offering a quick mental apology to Yamamoto for being so weak that I couldn't even back up my words. His soul would never find peace with the way things were going.

A chill ran down my spine at the prospect of meeting my end here. I thought to myself: Is it really alright to accept this fate? If I died, what meaning would my life have? I'm failing Yamamoto. This must be some type of cruel joke, escaping the forest only to die a minute later. And If I die, who will make Yukari pay for her wrongs? But even if someone did make her pay, I doubt I'll ever be able to rest unless it's by my hands.

I refused to die there; I couldn't die there, but even so, what could I do? My situation made me feel like I was drowning in a sea of hopelessness; so dark and cold. I couldn't stop shaking. I couldn't breathe. It felt like thousands of bugs writhed underneath my skin. I tried to get a hold of myself, but no respite would come.

Cold steel pressed to my neck, choking me. Death must not have been satisfied by stealing away Yamamoto's soul; this feeling of cold steel must've been his scythe at my neck. The thought of his cavernous eye sockets trained on me sent trepidation down to my very core. I have no doubts his mouth would be salivating in anticipation of my demise, were such a thing possible for a skeleton. My anguished soul cried out for help; for someone, anyone, to help me.


End file.
